Normally, it is my tradition to deck out the barn with garland, stockings and the works, but this year I ran into a few obstacles...My school shortened our winter break to 4 weeks instead of 6, also had two weeks in between Thanksgiving and Finals instead of one - So normally we trek back to home base before Thanksgiving and then the kids have a week off before playing in the snow while on break. The extra "time off" with finals and shortened break left it just not feasible to do the 300 mile trip back and forth. SO the kiddies are staying at the AU barn over break...

There lies another problem....some 65 something horses...that's a lot of stockings, stalls, etc. and I am broke...I can do the small boarding facility where half of the horses have their own stockings provided, not the huge place.

And numero tres....what comes first over the holidays, horses or family? 300 miles away from either or...Well, considering the nagging mother, I am 300 miles away from the horses, making this the first Christmas since purchasing Ozzy in 2001 that I have not seen him and the first Christmas in Jolie's life I have not seen her. I bet they don't know the difference, just another day in the life but it's a little sad to be breaking tradition all over the place.

As for me, I am at home and cozy at least with the pups at Stoneleigh Farm , and did a little bit of stocking stuffing for the ponies here. Not quite the same, but it will do! As for the ponies, we left all on a good note: Ozzy's shoe is back on after his abscess and he is sound and working again and Jolie's small boot camp went as planned and our last ride at 4:30 am yesterday morning couldn't have been better. Her future is a bright one and she is most certainly a very promising prospect!!! Both have earned their small vacation until the new year and are ready to get back in action and prepare for this coming show season.

In a world where everyone is striving to be the best, have the best horse, be the best horse trainer, etc. it's really easy to get caught up in going right along with it. Sometimes, we get almost a little blinded by the main goal and thus miss out on all of the tiny achievements along the way. On occasion, we can end up in seeing a "regression" in our horses training rather than the positive, and even sometimes actually going through a regression due to lack of understanding, too much push, or just not helping the horse to learn.

My soon to be 5-year-old mare is going through a phase, and it's making me really look at what is actually going on. I certainly am no exception to the wanting to be the best, or train the best horse - no one is the exception here. Every horse has their day, where rider/owner/trainer can ask "why the hell did I get/purchase/take on/etc. this horse?" and recently, this question has been muttered from me too. However, in retrospect, that little 6month old filly that I took on 4 years ago, that couldn't be caught in the stall, couldn't be groomed, much less anything else without trying to bite, kick or run you over then resorting to throwing herself on the ground has come pretty damn far. So, when you're nit-picking on pace to a fence, quality of a lead change, etc., and getting really hung up on it THINK about how many accomplishments you HAVE achieved. Going back to the basics is always OK - can't do a change, well try it simple - can't do it simple, well just stick to plain old straight lines and 20m circles.

When you are training a horse you have to teach the horse, and while teaching BUILD the confidence and not break it. The more hung up you get on the little things can take a toll on the fragile minds of the young'ns (granted, I work with TBs, they don't have to be young to be fragile minded!) If you ever encounter something that is just seeming to blow your horses mind, take it down a notch and reinforce the steps that lead up to what you're asking - give them the courage that they CAN do it. Obviously, this stuff isn't rocket science, but we are all human, we all tend to forget sometimes....and a little reminder can never hurt!

Recently I have been faced with the, (I guess) common problem of a hoof abscess. I have dealt with them on other peoples horses, but never mine. Boy, what a pain...Unfortunately it is with my 24 year old gelding Ozzy, who is still highly serviceable and loves to work. He is taking it pretty hard, he hates stall rest and hates even more how his foot hurts. He is a wimp, but is slowly getting over it. Fortunately for me, he will not remove his foot from the bucket, unless asked (and sometimes not even when asked!) and seems to enjoy and appreciate his hoof soak and wrap.Not to sound like a total fruit cake, but I think if you "listen" to your horse, they tell you what they want or need. For instance, before the abscess blew, I knew something was up, and now after we have discovered what it is, if Oz wants his foot soaked longer, you are not moving his foot from that bucket until he is ready. Also of recent talk around the barn is the topic of farriers. How do you know who's good and who's bad? What's too much to charge? And then when you encounter a problem, is your gut right about it or are you really the idiot that just knows nothing about feet? It's such a touchy situation, with the clients and farriers both alike. I guess to each their own and obviously if there was only one right way, then there wouldn't be all of these different farriers and techniques out there....Feel free to put your input!

This past weekend was a very busy one, complete with horse shows, horse show food, and lots of people, riders (good, bad, etc!) and most importantly NO SLEEP. Well, I am sure you all know the feeling of having to wake up the next day, get back to work and still sleep deprived have the punchiest day of your life. Anyway, some great and random thoughts come to mind....enjoy

#1 - Horses are pretty smart. I was looking at a photo of a young horse jumping a liverpool, and thinking how cool it is that some greenies are brave enough to just hop right on over whatever is asked. Neat. But, you have these intro eventing horses, also faced with the question of water. When it comes down to it, a big enough GP sized liverpool is approximately the size of those little BN water questions. How on earth do they differentiate between jumping over the blue thing on the sand and going through the water in the field? It's not how we ride it, because lets face it, either question we are probably riding the crap out of it so they never get that thought in their mind to stop at such a thing. I really find it interesting, and I definitely give them props for figuring it out. After all, we are these strange two legged creatures that want to piggy-back for an hour or so daily....who's idea was that anyway?

#2 I was having a conversation with the one and only H. Hurd the other day about fitness and starting babies. In his opinion he says that horses are at their physical prime at 4 years old, but mentally and performance peak doesn't come until much older, I think he was saying somewhere around 14, I honestly probably drifted into my head and was off thinking of my athletically primed 4yo TB's one that is fresh off the track and the other that has THANK SWEET BABY JESUS never even got a whiff of the place, she would have been a monster (or came back a saint and appreciative) had she gotten there.

A friend of mine and I were riding this evening, even though it was a Monday, after a weekend off because of the show, the babies had to work. We are in a completely controlled environment, insulated indoor, doors closed, two people quiet barn, and they might as well have heard the freaking racing horns because they were definitely feeling good. A couple of months ago, the filly learned WHOA, so I sat in the middle of the arena watching my friend flying around the indoor, thinking back to that time when the breaks were $#^& and we were in a similar position....Then I got to thinking about how sometimes you just feel like the human lunge line....I mean, they have to learn and once your in a situation you have to finish it, or they learn to get away with things. So it this: "my dear horse, meet MY dear friend the 20m circle, eat-it, breathe-it, sleep-it, because one way or the other you'll listen one day" and whether your on the ground or on their backs there you go. So today I have dubbed the age 4 as the "human lunge line" year. So much can get accomplished on a 20m circle....

So that is my story time for now...A bit ramble-y but I am tired and ready to sleep off that horse show weekend.